Art Brut: 'Top of the Pops' - Album review

"We're pretty persistent," Eddie Argos told us of his band's secret to longevity. "I think we'd still be going now even if no-one had bought any of our records." Thankfully, it hasn't quite come to that for Art Brut. Top of the Pops collects the catchiest moments from the band's four studio albums over the last decade, tacks on a couple of storming new tracks ('Arizona Bay' and 'We Make Pop Music') and - for the hardcore - bundles in a load of demos, live tracks and quirky covers.

Disc One is The Hits (or the closest thing Art Brut have got to them, so far). Crafted around some super-sharp one-liners is track-after-track of tight-as-hell guitarpop that may not be the most wildly experimental music you'll ever hear, but is up there as the most fun. It charts the progression from the witty, self-deprecating indie ambition of manifesto 'Formed A Band' ("Stop buying your albums from the supermarket / They only sell records that have charted/ And Art Brut? We've only just started") to the witty, self-deprecating indie ambition of closing autobiography 'We Make Pop Music' ("We make pop music/ Guitar-based pop music / For people that don't like people").

Disc Two fills in some of the gaps. There's some early, not-all-that-different Keith Top of the Pops-produced versions of the songs that would end up on debut Bang Bang Rock & Roll, indie literate B-sides ('These Animal Menswear') and sessions for It's a Bit Complicated produced by Pulp's Russell Senior. Covers include friends We Are Scientists (with a lawyer headache-inducing snippet of 'Free Bird') and The Cure's 'Catch', which inspired Art Brut's own bittersweet lovesong 'Emily Kane'. Among the live tracks is a nine-minute version of 'Modern Art' where a confessional Argos improvises himself into a corner before being rescued by the riff.

Art Brut's appropriately raw simplicity may be seen as a weakness but it's also their biggest strength. Things may have got a tiny bit slicker by the time of the band's third and best album Art Brut vs Satan, but aside from Eddie's Frank Black-inspired attempts to properly sing on Brilliant! Tragic! (with mixed results: 'Sexy Sometimes' - ooooh!, 'Lost Weekend' - hmmmm) if it ain't broke there seems little need to fix it. Scuzzy indie riffs meet knowing-but-not-arch lyrics about girls, pop music and never, ever growing up. What's not to love?